And We're Going To Hear The Truth....When?

Sunday's paper had a very good article about the downtown area, and was replete with all the great pie graphs, pictures and obligatory praise one would come to expect from developers with huge dollar signs in their eyes (like the Hardball Capital member and owner of the Wizards seen here)....all this closely on the heels of so many debates, "task forces" (there's that damn word AGAIN), informal polls, and plain old taproom talk concerning the Harrison Square (aka Costaplenty Field) project. And let's face it...when you're trying to sell something so many people DON'T really want, you've just GOT to dress it up any way you can (building it with ZERO tax dollars would be a damn good start...) right? Sorry, but if it LOOKS like crap, SMELLS like crap, and yes, even TASTES like crap, don't try to BS me into believing it's a T-Bone (medium well) with onions and mushrooms, OK?

Anyone else recall the "field trip" those city and county leaders took to South Carolina a few months back to see how one (sister) city THERE handled it's downtown revitalization? Well, now Fort Wayne *must* want to become like ATLANTA, because that's our new "benchmark" for downtown improvement. Setting our "standards" higher now, are we? Personally, if one considers the amount of crime in Atlanta (alone), I wouldn't want to emulate that on ANY scale. But if statistical patterns and "trending" are any barometer of where Fort Wayne "wants" to go, I suppose we could always do WORSE (I'm thinking Detroit)...but not by much. Adding to the crime rate, the fact that Atlanta also has one of the top ten largest minority contingents, and it's a no-brainer as to why "we" want to be like them so badly (apparently). Since Atlanta is the 11th largest city in the nation, where exactly does Fort Wayne (pop. approx. 254,000) fit into the mix? It looks a bit incongruous from a myriad of vantage points.

Now I promise not to go off on some tangent relative to crime and minority populations or demographics (a topic for another post?), but I do see similarities, as would anyone with two working eyes and half a brain would in this case.

Still, this "complex" slated for downtown Fort Wayne (and you just KNOW they're polishing up the ramrods, and buying up petroleum jelly by the boxcar) isn't really about the PEOPLE of Fort Wayne...OR the businesses...OR even the future of the city. Be honest, you know this is just more smoke and mirrors. It's all about (all together now) M-O-N-E-Y....cash coin of the realm, dinero.....lotsa dollars (with no sense)...!

We HAD businesses downtown...we HAD people downtown, and we even HAD a future (for) downtown, but somehow..."it all got away", and no one saw fit to look for it, or even attempt to bring it back...until NOW. Sorry, but you just can't reinvent the wheel (or even IMPROVE upon it) in this instance. The SAME city and county that allowed developers to come in, set up all those malls AWAY from center city (to "cater" to people living AWAY from center city) weren't thinking of ANYTHING but the dollars they were making (at the citizens' expense). We've got areas SO inundated with retail, it's pathetic...and there are people that bought property there becasue it was "out in the country"...now they're surrounded by shopping on all sides. Convienient, yes...practical...no way. Certain areas of the city have become more TOP-HEAVY (with shopping and eateries) than Dolly Parton! Other parts of the city have virtually (and actually) nothing! And all these developers are "gone with the wind", never to be seen again...and what does our center city have to show for it? A few (small) businesses downtown, some office space (vacant too), a few government buildings...gee, sounds like most every other large city's downtown area. And here I thought Fort Wayne was TRYING to be like OTHER cities. Looks like we did just FINE to me.

The city wants a vital downtown. A nice idea. Hell, I want some neighbors other than non-working, drug-dealing, boomcar driving, disrespectful morons, but I don't see the city leaders bending over backwards to lift one damn finger to help ME (and others that feel likewise), so what makes the city feel I should "toss my hat" into the ring to support something I would have less use for than an electric dog-polisher? There is too little downtown to attract me, and even "if" this project comes to fruition, it would still not be enough to have me there regularly.

Think about who really needs the downtown TODAY....basically those going through the court system, that's who! Well, that and a few lovers of the cultural arts, but little else is there in the downtown proper for the masses.

They want to put a new HOTEL down there....cripes, they can't EVEN fill the rooms in hotels they have NOW...what makes anyone thinks a NEW hotel will attract SO many more people (maybe the curious tourists from Japan who want to see idiocy on display?) when we can't attract enough people now?

They want to put a new ballpark there too....I'll make this real simple...NO F$CKING WAY...kapesh? We don't NEED it. The Wizards are a MINOR league team, and can't even produce SRO receipts as it is NOW with their 13 year old stadium. Should Fort Wayne have a "new" downtown, how much of a "flash in the pan" would it become? How long before the "novelty" wears off? And then we're right back to square one, right? Except the taxpayers would be out that money...almost forgot about that. It's just a "White Mastodon"...waiting to be born. Can we honestly afford it in the manner it's being presented to us, or can we do better with less?

I think we can...and should.

I really don't see this downtown project as revitalization, as much as I see it as "damage control" for decades of denial, disbelief, and disregard for the citizenry. Isn't it just a tad late?.

So if you people (read city & county "leaders") are going to LIE to us...at LEAST be more creative. We've heard a LOT of this crap SO many times before.

If ANYTHING needs revitalization...it's the TRUTH.